Historic U.S. Lobby Day builds support for LRA/Uganda legislation

(Washington, DC; July 2) Nearly
two thousand American citizens lobbied US policymakers last week to more
quickly and seriously respond to the attacks by Lord's Resistance Army
(LRA) rebels in central Africa and help achieve lasting peace in areas
affected by the conflict. The participants converged on Washington, DC
from June 22nd-23rd for a symposium and lobbying event called How It Ends
(www.howitends.tv),
the largest US lobby day ever focused on Africa.

Participants joined over 400 lobbying
meetings on Capitol Hill to request that Congress pass landmark legislation
that would provide assistance to war-affected communities and require President
Obama to devise an interagency strategy to stop LRA attacks. As a result,
66 Representatives and 17 Senators have now cosponsored the legislation,
while dozens also signed a letter to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
urging her to make ending the conflict a priority.

"LRA leaders are responsible for
some of the highest levels of violence anywhere in the world right now,"
said Michael Poffenberger, Executive Director of DC-based advocacy group
Resolve Uganda, who helped organize the Lobby Day. "For the sake of
millions of civilians in the region, this conflict must not be allowed
to enter it's 24th year. That's the message these constituents brought
to their elected representatives last week."

After abandoning a two-year peace process
late last year, LRA commander Joseph Kony, indicted by the International
Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity, dispatched his fighters
to commit a new wave of brutal atrocities against vulnerable civilians
in the region. In December 2008, regional governments launched a military
offensive that failed to apprehend Kony or protect civilians in the DR
Congo and South Sudan from widespread reprisal attacks. Last week senior
United Nations officials estimated that LRA rebels have killed 1,200 civilians
and abducted as many as 1,500 more, mostly children, in the past six months
alone.

"Time and again over the past fifteen
months, Kony has rejected opportunities to peacefully end the conflict,"
Poffenberger added. "However, the UN's new casualty estimates are
concrete evidence that poorly planned regional military offensives only
stir the hornet's nest and put hundreds of thousands of people at risk
from rebel reprisal attacks. The international community has to do better."

Last month, a bipartisan group of US
Senators and Representatives introduced the Lord's Resistance Army Disarmament
and Northern Uganda Recovery Act of 2009, legislation that would require
the Obama Administration to develop a multilateral, interagency strategy
to protect civilians in central Africa from attacks by the LRA and aims
to help address the needs of affected communities.

"What's needed now is momentum towards
addressing LRA violence in a comprehensive manner, including by developing
adequate mechanisms to protect civilians and abductees and facilitate the
demobilization of LRA fighters," said Paul Ronan, Senior Policy Analyst
for Resolve Uganda."To permanently stop LRA attacks though, a strategy
must include a viable, targeted operation to arrest Kony and top LRA leaders
should they continue to refuse to take genuine steps to sign and adhere
to the final peace agreement."

"The Lobby Day participants are
committed to passing this legislation as a crucial first step in attaining
the increased US and international leadership needed to realize such a
strategy, and prevent yet another repeat of the failures of recent military
operations against LRA forces," Ronan added.

The US legislation would also commit
the United States to increase support to transitional justice efforts in
Uganda, and press the Ugandan government to prioritize recovery of war-affected
areas.

"Stopping Kony and top LRA commanders
can end the immediate violence, but meaningful national reconciliation
and reconstruction in the north are necessary to achieving lasting peace
in Uganda. This bill allows the US to play a supporting role in this process,
but also recognizes sustainable reconstruction requires improved leadership
from the Ugandan government," Ronan said.

Before lobbying their elected leaders,
participants in the How It Ends event heard from conflict experts, including
Senator Russ Feingold, ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, former
UN AIDS Envoy Stephen Lewis, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for
African Affairs Phillip Carter, and numerous representatives from civil
society organizations.